Life Experience in Transition:The Dual Temporality of Social Change in Northeast China
The sociology of transition investigates transitional phenomena using institutional change as the primary clue,but often neglects the life experience of ordinary people.The paper expands the"institution-society"perspective in the sociology of transition into an"institution-life-society"framework,aiming to analyze the intricate interactive mechanisms between life time and institutional time,with a particular focus on biographical planning,agency,and the generational dynamics.The goal is to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the social change via analyzing the life experience in transition.The paper explains this theoretical perspective by retracing the history of market transition in the Northeast region,pointing out that the life experience of ordinary people has shaped the transition posture,development dynamics and social composition of the region in different periods,and thereby played an important mediating role in the transformation process.